Harry Reid blasts John Cornyn ‘poison pill’

A proposed Republican amendment to the Senate Gang of Eight’s immigration bill is a “poison pill” and the legislation is unlikely to go through any “big changes,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Sunday.

The amendment to the bill from Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) would require significantly higher thresholds of border control before the bill’s “trigger” kicks in allowing undocumented immigrants to move toward citizenship. The effort has been praised by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a key Gang of Eight member, as a provision that “will get this bill where it needs to be.”

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But Reid said Cornyn’s amendment is not intended to be constructive and that he “will not accept any poison pills” as the bill comes before the full Senate this week.

“We have a senator from Texas, Senator Cornyn who wants to change border security, a trigger, saying that it has to be a 100 percent border security, or [there will] be no bill. That’s a poison pill,” Reid said on Univision’s Al Punto.

“If people have suggestions like they did in the Judiciary Committee to change the bill a little bit, I’ll be happy to take a look at that. But we’re not going to have big changes.”

Reid argued that significant heft, including Border Patrol officers as well as drones, have been added to the nation’s border with Texas in recent years and that Republicans who are arguing for increased border security as a condition of supporting the Senate legislation are only trying to upset the delicate bill negotiations.

“Let’s not carry this to extremes,” Reid said. “This is only an attempt to hurt the bill.”

Still, Reid is likely to allow a vote on Cornyn’s amendment — or, at least, not stand in the way of one. Reid hopes to complete work on the bill ahead of the July 4th recess and said Sunday that he believes the bill as written would garner significant support to pass.

Cornyn has argued otherwise. His measure would require increased surveillance of the border and greater apprehension rates of those crossing the border illegally before the bill would let undocumented immigrants seek legal status. He also wants large increases in spending on border enforcement and infrastructure.

Cornyn’s amendment has not been completed yet, but the senator has described it as a significant and comprehensive shake-up to the border security title.

“Sen. Reid calling this amendment a poison pill before he has even read the text is very telling,” a Cornyn aide said Sunday afternoon.